Location: Near Huntsville, Alabama. Just south of the Tennessee line off I65

Posts: 7,549

A little. Got the back corner in place:

Welded it in, knocked the proud off the welds, and laid the center section in place.

Still a LOT of work to do on this fender...on all of them actually. The center section fits pretty well but putting it in place will be non-trivial because of the tipped trunk opening flange.

The two rear fenders will NOT be welded together but rather have a seam in the center. My idea is that the seam will bolt into a piece of aluminum INSIDE the trunk and there will be a piece of trim that covers the seam.

Also, my current thinking is that there will be a recessed license plate area in the center bottom. The exhaust will exit in the center also. Two pipes side-by-side.

Interesting that you say annealing is not necessary because the 3003 is so nice, and only needed if you are deep forming, when it seems to me half the panels on your car could be considered "deep forming".

Also, I am interested in your thoughts on gas welding. I spent a lot of time and effort buying a TIG and teaching myself to weld alum before I realized gas welding was an option. I don't like working with a torch or flux. I'm encouraged that you can do plenty of work on your TIG seams and that it doesn't seem to interfere with your forming,even on those deep reverses.

Do you have any comments on the ductility of the TIG welds or comparing it to gas welds ? Have you tried gas welding and compared the differences ?

Location: Near Huntsville, Alabama. Just south of the Tennessee line off I65

Posts: 7,549

Quote:

Originally Posted by preston

Interesting that you say annealing is not necessary because the 3003 is so nice, and only needed if you are deep forming, when it seems to me half the panels on your car could be considered "deep forming".

Also, I am interested in your thoughts on gas welding. I spent a lot of time and effort buying a TIG and teaching myself to weld alum before I realized gas welding was an option. I don't like working with a torch or flux. I'm encouraged that you can do plenty of work on your TIG seams and that it doesn't seem to interfere with your forming,even on those deep reverses.

Do you have any comments on the ductility of the TIG welds or comparing it to gas welds ? Have you tried gas welding and compared the differences ?

Actually while the roadster has lots of complex shapes, as individual sub panels, they're basically simple. I'l probably do some annealing in Oblong for the headlights and some other tight areas but basically unless I really need to move the metal a LOT, I haven't found it necessary and I'm cautious of making the panel any softer than it needs to be.

This and 5 more aluminum cars will make an even half dozen I've built...

Preston, I'm a novice aluminum welder. I have a REALLY high end TIG (Miller Dynasty) and more or less know how to use it but I tend to have much more bead than someone who really knows their stuff. This means I take a LOT longer finishing the weld. I'm using 1100 rod. Since that is dead soft, coupled with the annealing properties of the heat affected zone, I rarely see any weld cracks and when I do, it's probably because of my crappy welding.

If I were 30, I'd invest the time in learning how to gas weld. As it is, I'm 60, half blind, and wear trifocals. Even with high dollar TM2000 lenses, I simply CAN'T SEE the puddle during a flux gas weld. (I can gas weld steel perfectly fine.) I can see the puddle fine with the TIG so I'm sticking with what works for me. I don't doubt that gas welding is at least as good if not better but I gotta do what works for me.

While there are plenty of old world craftsmen and also U.S. pros that swear by gas welding, there are quite a few that only TIG and still manage to produce quality work.

For me, the 1100 rod is KEY. When I was using the 4000 series rod I had all sorts of cracking problems.

Location: Near Huntsville, Alabama. Just south of the Tennessee line off I65

Posts: 7,549

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhunter

..., I figure that you have a list of "things you would do differently if you could". ...What are some other things you would change?

I'd have spent a long time building the car on paper. Since I don't do CAD, I'd probably have made a clay model, cut it into sections, and projected them on a wall to make section lines. From there, a hard buck.

I'd still have done flexible shape patterns because they work for me but without a hard buck to get the arrangement right, these reverses will kick your butt because it's very difficult to change arrangement on a major reverse.

I'd have made my chassis stiffer.

I'd have purchased the final wheels and tires early on.

I'd have not tried to use anything from the Dakota...waste of time and money. Over the years I've learned that EVERY time I try and cut corners or cheap out it bites me in the butt sooner or later... You'd think I'd have learned this a few decades back.

Basically I'd have made a PLAN instead of playing it by ear in real time. It's going to turn out fine but it would have been much less painfull and probably faster to have spent more time planning instead of jumping in just so I could start making shape in aluminum.

I'd also have probably done a superleggera approach instead of the more traditional substructure I did. It would have been easier as well as lighter.

Finally, as much as I love the look of this car, it was (is) a real stretch for my skills. A simpler design would have been smarter and probably plenty cool for an old man....

Having worked on the roadster with Kerry I have to say that this experience has helped me improve my skills and resulted in my learning a lot about how to build a car from scratch. I had only limited experience working with aluminum panels except for minor repairs on some of the English cars. One of the things about Kerry is that he will tell you what he did and what he learned good or bad. You learn from both. I have enjoyed working on the roadster and will work on it more in the future. Thanks Kerry.